It doesn’t seem five minutes since we looked at the CX1 – well, back in April actually – so it’s quite surprise to find that Ricoh has already launched its successor, the CX2. Again, this is a super-zoom compact seemingly aimed at the enthusiast or the DSLR user who occasionally wants to pack something simpler and smaller. That …

COMMENTS

I am puzzled/disappointed

No VF?

Yeah, as the article says that is pretty bad for a long lens. I was struggling with my Canon (10x zoom, no VF) today to get sharp images, and even when using flash the only way to do it was to get closer to the subject and use less magnification -- might sound like no problem, but the wider the angle, the more distortion in the image. Not to mention that I feel stupid holding the camera like that with my arms extended, but that might be just me... :-)

Re: miniature mode, it does not just blur the periphery of the picture. If my manual fake-tilt-shift adventures are any indication, it also over-saturates the colors and increases the contrast (to look like a painted model). The shot shown in the article does show a bit of increase in the saturation, but not as much as I would apply if doing it manually. Contrast does not look changed though.

Re: whot?

No, it's all very complicated this sensor size lark. The quoted dimensions are historically based on TV camera tube sizes, and the sensor itself is typically about two-thirds that size - no wonder they continue to use a more flattering measure than reality.

DPReview attempts to explain all at http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/sensor_sizes_01.htm